Wayne Grandy
MOULTRIE — The Colquitt County middle school cross country teams had strong seasons and give every indication of offering promise for the program in the future.
The boys team won the Tift County Invitational, the Bainbridge Invitational and the Baconton Invitational and finished sixth out of 27 teams in the Georgia State Middle School Championships held last Saturday at Bleckley County Elementary School in Cochran.
The girls won the Baconton Invitational and finished 13th out of 21 teams at the state championships.
Also this season, Hudson May of the boys team finished first in the Tift County Invitational and Steven Johnson was 13th in the state championships.
Kayla Webbe of the girls team won the Baconton Invitational.
“Most of this group wants to continue running, which is what they will have to do if they want to return next year and take it to a higher level with these northern Georgia teams,” middle school cross country coach Link Whittaker said.
“I was especially pleased with this team’s determination and consistency. Finishing the season with 23 runners is more than the last two seasons since we started the middle school program.”
Whittaker said his boys team was the strongest in each of the events it entered in the area.
The middle school Packers also went to Cochran and ran well against some strong north Georgia teams on a hilly course, finishing sixth out of 27 teams.
“I think it was quite an accomplishment for them to pull out a sixth place finish, considering we had just one eighth-grade runner,” Whittaker said.
Johnson, the team’s lone eighth-grader, finished 13th in the state championship with a time in the 2-mile run of 12:20.
“Steven improved with each race,” Whittaker said. “He ran hard at practice and separated himself as the the leader of this team.”
Also running in the team race for the middle school Packers in Cochran were Hudson May, 24th, 12:37; Ryan Littleton, 40th, 13:07; Garrett May, 42nd, 13:09; and Dominique Hall, 57th, 13:31.
The sixth-grade members of the team ran in No. 2 race at Cochran, classified as an individual race.
Luke Brinson led the sixth-graders with a 35th-place finish.
Also runing were Cody Mullis, 14:35; Michael Wilkes, 15:11; P.B. Henry, 15:24; Morgan Hart, 15:33; and Jared Brown, 15:33.
“I thought the sixth-graders as a whole ran a great race,” Whittaker said. “The all ran the two miles in under 16 minutes.
“They should be very competitive next season, especially with the four returning seventh-graders.”
The girls were led all season by three eighth-graders, Webbe, Katie Russell and Kaydee Mullis.
Whittaker said Tiffany Smith and Jordan Newberry, a pair of up-and-coming sixth-graders, ran well in the race in Cochran last weekend. Both ran in the individual, rather than the team race, but both had scores that would have been the fourth-fastest on the girls team.
For the girls team in Cochran on Saturday, Webbe was the top finisher, coming in 45th with a 14:49.
Also running were Russell, 15:02; Mullis, 15:48; Aureyuanna Rushing, 16:41; Cayla Rogers, 16:55; Amber Boyd, 17:00; and Vivian Larson, 17:01.
In the individual race, Smith had a 16:34; Newberry, 16:58; Juanita Zamara, 18:14; Rebecca Bartolone, 20:17; and Tamera Edwards, 23:41.
The girls team will return eight runners next season, including six of whom will be seventh-graders.
